Lack of canonical activities of connexins in highly aggressive human prostate cancer cells.

Connexins (Cxs) have the ability to form channels that allow the exchange of ions/metabolites between adjacent cells (gap junction channels, GJC) or between the intra- and extra-cellular compartments (hemichannels, HC). Cxs were initially classified as tumor suppressors. However, more recently, it has been shown that Cxs exert anti- and pro-tumorigenic effects depending on the cell and tissue context.

Gold(I) Complexes Based on Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Derivatives as Multi-Target Drugs against Colon Cancer.

Targeting inflammation and the molecules involved in the inflammatory process could be an effective cancer prevention and therapy strategy. Therefore, the use of anti-inflammatory strategies, such as NSAIDs and metal-based drugs, has become a promising approach for preventing and treating cancer by targeting multiple pathways involved in tumor progression. The present work describes new phosphane gold(I) complexes derived from nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as multitarget drugs against colon cancer.

Is the Imaging Radiation Oncology Core Head and Neck Credentialing Phantom an Effective Surrogate for Different Anatomic Sites?

Purpose: The Imaging Radiation Oncology Core (IROC) head and neck (H&N) phantom is used to credential institutions for intensity modulated radiation therapy delivery for all anatomic sites where delivery of modulated therapy is a primary challenge. This study evaluated how appropriate the use of this phantom is for varied clinical anatomy by evaluating how closely the IROC H&N phantom described clinical dose errors from beam modeling compared with various anatomic sites.

Methods And Materials: The multileaf collimator (MLC) offset, transmission, percent depth dose, and 7 additional beam modeling parameters for a Varian accelerator were modified in RayStation to match community data at the 2.

Pharmacology of boldine: summary of the field and update on recent advances.

Over the past decade, boldine, a naturally occurring alkaloid found in several plant species including the Chilean Boldo tree, has garnered attention for its efficacy in rodent models of human disease. Some of the properties that have been attributed to boldine include antioxidant activities, neuroprotective and analgesic actions, hepatoprotective effects, anti-inflammatory actions, cardioprotective effects and anticancer potential. Compelling data now indicates that boldine blocks connexin (Cx) hemichannels (HCs) and that many if not all of its effects in rodent models of injury and disease are due to CxHC blockade.

Evaluating the ability of non-tuberculous mycobacteria to induce non-specific reactions in bovine tuberculosis diagnostic tests in guinea pigs and cattle.

Limitations in diagnostic test performance are one of the major challenges hampering the eradication of bovine tuberculosis (bTB). Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are considered one of the main causes of non-specific reactions in the intradermal tuberculin test, the most widely used bTB diagnostic test. To determine the role of NTMs in bTB misdiagnosis in Spain, an experimental study including the NTM species most commonly found in bTB-positive animals from bTB-free farms in the country (M.